Solo Night Flight

[Asterope]

5th of spring, 521 AV

The drop didn't seem any less steep than the last time she'd stood there. Aster stared down at the ground below her, stomach twisting into knots. She knew if she ever wanted to learn, she was going to have to do it the hard way; but that didn't make it any easier. She reached up to grip onto Navi's tooth, the maledicted pendant dangling around her neck as it always did. It comforted her, but not by much.

Inhaling deeply, she squeezed her eyes shut, and then with a few running steps, she leaped. The feeling of weightlessness sent panic shooting through her; the image of dark, crashing waves below her flashed into her mind. But she had wings this time. Aster's eyes flew open at the same time that her wings snapped open, flaring out to catch the mild night air. The ground beneath her tilted nauseatingly as she flapped hard and veered up, away from it.

It was about as clumsy as the last time; Aster tucked her wings more easily this time to bank, feeling the wind gliding underneath them, whipping her hair around her face. She spread them as she approached the hilltop again, in an attempt to slow her descent, having only flown a few feet away before returning. Her feet managed to hit the ground first this time, but her momentum still sent her stumbling and then sprawling onto her stomach with a small grunt.

She was glad she hadn't brought Cressida this time; having anyone watch her pathetic attempts and failures at trying to fly would be embarrassing. It probably shouldn't be, since she was attempting to learn a new skill with body parts she still wasn't entirely used to; but it felt that way all the same, so she'd rather practice alone.

Her brief moment of gratitude was short-lived when she heard cackling laughter erupt from somewhere. Aster's head jerked up as she looked around, but there was nobody nearby; it was only then that she heard the flapping of wings, and looked up. Perhaps they'd been hiding, or she'd been so busy with her own attempt at flight that she hadn't noticed; but another winged creature was circling overhead, and they were laughing at her.

Aster flushed, pushing herself to her feet. The creature did a loop in the air, likely showing off, and then dove down; they snapped their wings out at the last moment to catch themselves, hovering briefly before landing gracefully on their feet. Closer up, Aster could see the bat-winged creature was a woman, naked save for a few adornments on her arms and neck and some straps on her legs. She peered curiously at Aster, opening her mouth, and let out a shrill series of shrieks and clicks.

Aster winced slightly, cocking her head uncertainly. The woman seemed taken aback at that, annoyance crossing her sharp, almost animalistic features. "You do not speak Zith?" She demanded, in perhaps surprisingly fluent though heavily accented Common.

"Uh," Aster said, eloquently. "No, sorry, I don't." The woman huffed, stalking forward, and Aster took a nervous step back. She didn't seem aggressive, but she was intimidating all the same, her movements full of feral grace as she stalked towards Asterope, her wings folding around her body loosely.

"Are your wings hurt? You don't fly," She pressed, reaching a clawed hand out and prodding at the frame of one of Aster's wings as she circled her.

[Asterope]

"No, they're not hurt. I don't know how to fly," Aster spoke honestly; she didn't see any use in lying to the strange, wild woman.

The Zith woman let out a shriek of indignation, pulling back to stare at Aster with wide eyes. "Don't know? To fly?" She repeated. "Impossible. How? You are very strange." Her sharp words were blunt as she stood in front of Aster, leaning in uncomfortably close to peer at her face.

Aster hesitated; she recalled the vague horror stories of how savage and cruel Zith were, but the winged woman was...surprisingly friendly. Well, perhaps friendly wasn't the right word; but she certainly didn't seem to be a threat, at least not right now. Perhaps it was because she thought Aster was one of her own.

"It's...hard to explain. I don't always look like this," she motioned to her body and wings, but her words just seemed to confuse the Zith woman, who shook her head.

"Strange," she repeated, frowning. "Not good, for you to not fly. Not right. What is your name? I am Nightblood."

"Aster," said Asterope after a moment of pause, deciding to give the shorter version of her name for simplicity's sake. Nightblood was pulling at her clothes now, curiously, seeming more and more exasperated and frustrated by the moment.

"Clothes too? You were not brought up by Zith," she said, her tone accusatory.

"No, I wasn't," Aster admitted, which earned her another huff, Nightblood baring her fangs in irritation as she considered Aster in front of her. Finally, she seemed to come to a conclusion.

"I teach you," she announced. "Zith things, like fly. Maybe others too. Flying most important, though. Then you're not so strange."

Aster blinked, staring at Nightblood uncertainly. "Oh. Well, uhm, thank you. That's very kind of you."

Nightblood tossed her head, her thick, dark red-black hair flying around her as she half-snorted, half-snarled, her fangs flashing in the moonlight. "No," she said, harshly. "Not kind. Pity. Many Zith see strange one like you and think to play, to kill."

Aster had the distinct feeling that Nightblood didn't mean the word 'play' in any sort of positive or fun way; at least, not fun for whoever was on the receiving end. Nightblood continued, shrugging slightly, "But I like strange, pity to see you bloody and dead when you can be fun alive. So I help."

"Well, thank you anyway," Aster said, and Nightblood rolled her dark eyes, waving a hand in annoyance.

"No thanks, just listen and do good. Come," she grabbed Aster's wrist, dragging her further up the hill to a slightly higher point. "Too low there, for beginner. Child needs easier wind to catch, so higher up." Aster wasn't sure if she should be offended to be compared to a child in such a way, but she decided to keep her mouth shut regardless.

"Wind comes up, pushes wings up. You fly," Nightblood said, as if it was the simplest and easiest thing in existence. "Flapping makes you faster, flapping and pointing up brings you higher," Nightblood stretched up on her toes to demonstrate angling her chest upwards, spreading her wings and flapping them slowly. "Landing hardest part, you have trouble, I saw." A fanged grin stretched over her face and she snickered, though Aster was entirely unamused.

[Asterope]

"Different ways. Drop and spread wings, like I did. Lots of flapping near ground makes easier. Or, easiest way, walk when you land, go forward until no need." Aster listened, frowning slightly.

While Nightblood was surprisingly fluent in Common, her explanation was still stilted and vague, possibly because of the language barrier, possibly because she was trying to explain something that came so naturally to her. Maybe both. Aster imagined it was probably similar to trying to explain how to breathe to a fish.

Though, she liked to think she was a lot smarter than a fish. Nightblood took a few steps back, motioning for Aster to watch her. "Running start," She said, before sprinting forward a few steps and leaping off the cliff.

She flapped her wings hard, and Aster watched carefully; she saw Nightblood arch her body upwards as she flapped, zipping through the air before levelling out and letting her wings go still, gliding, tilting her body to circle lazily above, giving the occasional flap. "You try," she heard the Zith call down to her.

Aster swallowed hard. "Here goes nothing, I guess," she mumbled to herself, backing up. She tried not to let herself think too much about how steep the drop in front of her was, and inhaling deeply, she sprinted towards the edge of the cliff, leaping forward; she felt her foot push off the edge of the solid ground behind her, and flared her wings out, flapping perhaps slightly desperately as she angled her chest up, pushing her body forward and straining upwards as she flapped.

She rose through the air surprisingly quickly, swooping up higher than she'd dared to go previously. She glanced down and her flapping stuttered for a moment as she realized how high up she was. She could hear Nightblood laughing at her nearby. "Not so bad for first time," the Zith called, swooping around Aster as she flapped hard to keep herself aloft. "Now land."

Nightblood turned, angling herself down into a dive; as she neared the ground, she pulled back, spreading her wings and stretching her legs out; she hit the ground running smoothly, slowing to a jog and then coming to a stop as she folded her wings behind her. "See? Easy!" Came the call from below.

Aster wasn't keen on sending herself into a free-fall dive from so high up; flapping, she angled herself down; it was clumsy at first, moving forward before she began to descend, much more slowly than Nightblood, and it wasn't nearly as smooth or linear. But she wasn't falling, and at the moment, that was really all she cared about.

[Asterope]

As Aster approached the ground again, she spread her wings wide, slowing her flapping, and mimicking Nightblood, reached her legs out. She felt her foot hit solid ground, and instead of letting the moment send her sprawling, she moved with it, throwing herself forward and catching herself on her other foot, attempting to turn her landing into a run.

It worked for a brief moment; she ran a few clumsy steps, but she was going fast and she was uncoordinated, so it wasn't long before she tripped over her own feet and once again hit the ground with a low groan. Nightblood cackled above her, taking amusement from her failure as she rolled to a stop. "Clumsy!" She shrieked with laughter, shaking her head.

"Need to be more graceful. Think of cats, landing on feet; like that. But, for only second try landing, could have been worse. Need better control in air, too; very clumsy. In city or forest, no big space to fly clumsy, or you hit things. But you do not fall while in air, and that is good. Sometimes, children get too scared, or not know what to do, and just fall. Their bones go crack, then, usually."

Nightblood snickered again, as if the mental image she'd just supplied was a hilarious joke. "But your bones all still in one piece. That is good for you!" Aster pushed herself up, wincing slightly; her bones did seem to all be intact, but she was already feeling sore.

She eyed Nightblood warily; the Zith was getting entirely too much enjoyment out of this, and it was making her slightly uncomfortable, but where else would she find someone to help teach her how to fly?

"I never asked," Aster said, as she pushed herself to her feet carefully, stretching to try and shake off some of the soreness. "What are you doing around here, anyway? I've never met a...another Zith," she corrected herself mid-sentence. Nightblood didn't seem to notice.

"Was hunting. Don't usually come so close to city, but saw another of our kind, came to say hello, ask if you wanted to help hunt. Maybe with two we can catch a human," she bared her teeth, eyes glittering. "But then saw you trying to fly, was curious. Wanted to know what you were doing."

The casual way she spoke about hunting and catching humans made Aster feel vaguely nauseous, not to mention anxious. But Nightblood had been as friendly as a Zith probably could be with her so far, so she supposed she probably wasn't in any danger. For now, in any case.

[Asterope]

"Come," Nightblood said abruptly. "Again." She motioned towards the edge of the hilltop. "Just you now, I watch your landing." The Zith woman stood aside slightly, folding her arms and waiting impatiently. Aster swallowed hard, eyeing the cliff's edge warily, and took a few steps back, steadying herself. Inhaling deeply, she took a running start towards the edge, and same as before, flared her wings out as she leaped, flapping hard to catch herself midair, hanging above the ground below instead of plummeting down.

"Higher," she heard Nightblood shriek behind her, and Aster somewhat reluctantly arched her chest, pointing herself upwards as she flapped, though she was mindful not to go as high as last time now that she knew just how fast she could propel herself through the air.

Swiveling her body around, still flapping, Aster looked down at the hilltop and Nightblood, who was motioning for her to come back down. Inhaling again, Aster grimaced and tilted her body downwards, flapping as she began her descent. Her back was beginning to ache slightly, muscles she didn't normally use (or even have, for that matter) sore from the exertion.

Remembering Nightblood's rather curt explanation on landings and how flapping quickly near the end of the descent could help, Aster stretched her wings out as she reached her feet out, the ground quickly coming up to meet her. As it drew closer she began to flap quickly; she couldn't tell if it actually helped, focused as she was on hitting the ground with her feet. "Don't land on flat feet," Nightblood called, "Near toes. Remember, cats!"

Did she mean that Aster should land on the balls of her feet? She supposed it made sense; more mindful of how her feet were positioned, Aster arched them down slightly, and this time she hit the ground rolling onto the balls of her feet, pushing herself off and forward into a fast stride as she flapped hard. It still wasn't quite graceful; she stumbled and skidded across the grass, nearly falling over again, but throwing her arms out, Aster managed to remain upright when her momentum finally faded.

Nightblood made a clicking sound that Aster assumed was a word in her language, cackling again. "Some Zith you are! So clumsy! But, it was better," she acknowledged after a moment, and Aster felt strangely proud. Straightening up, Aster folded her wings along her back, but Nightblood shook her head. "Again," she demanded, and Aster muffled a groan.

(Continued in Night Fight*)